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Bush gives Ireland a headache

6,000 used in security operation

Richard Oakley

June 27 2004, 1:00am, The Sunday Times

With the president safely tucked away, protesters could only shout and chant at the castle’s battlements in the vain hope that their anger would ripple through to its intended target. Up to 1,000 protesters marched to a security cordon about a mile from the EU-US summit venue. Waving placards and chanting anti-Bush slogans, they were occasionally drowned out by military helicopters circling overhead.

Grey clouds gave way to sunshine as an additional 1,000 protesters joined their ranks. At least 4,000 police officers and 2,000 troops were on duty outside the castle walls, where Bush had spent the previous night in the presidential suite.

The president had retired to his four-poster bed at 10pm, not before he was caught on video wearing a T-shirt at the…

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